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*a biological community of living organisms (humans, animals, plants, and microbes) and their physical environment interacting as a system

Texas A&M Researchers Awarded Grant to Establish “Tissue Chip” Center

Testing drug safety and efficacy is challenging, expensive, and
time consuming. Recent advancements have given way to what is known
as “tissue chips.” These tiny bioengineered systems mimic the
larger, complex organs and tissues of the human body. The chips may
improve our ability to ensure that a drug is safe before clinical
trials begin and could ultimately replace drug testing in humans
and animals.

A team of Texas A&M University researchers, led by Dr. Ivan
Rusyn, will be working to advance tissue chip research through a
recently awarded $4.2 million grant by the National Institutes of
Health’s (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translation Sciences
(NCATS). This award will establish a state-of-the-art, tissue
chip-testing infrastructure, known as Texas A&M Tissue Chip
Validation (TEX-VAL) Center. The center will work with tissue chip
developers to test and validate their devices. This work will help
facilitate and further the use of tissue chips for drug and
chemical testing in both the United States and Europe.

“TEX-VAL Center will conduct testing in the microphysiological
systems developed by a number of NIH grantees,” said Dr. Ivan
Rusyn, professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary
Medicine (CVM) and principal investigator. “Our goal is to provide
resources, personnel, and infrastructure for establishing
functionality, reproducibility, robustness, and reliability of
tissue chip models that represent a wide array of human organ and
tissue systems.”

Although many are researching how to create tissue chips and
testing their physiological function, TEX-VAL Center takes the
research a step further. “The next important step is to demonstrate
that tissue chips may be transferred to the laboratories and
companies outside of the developers’ lab and shown to perform
equally well and on a wide range of drugs and chemicals,” Rusyn
said.

The project is a collaborative effort and includes faculty from
across Texas A&M’s campus and beyond. “The team of senior
investigators and staff at TEX-VAL Center has been assembled to
address all aspects of the tissue chip technology development and
use,” Rusyn said. “Our team includes experts in toxicology, in
vitro and in vivo testing, microscopy, genomics, pharmacokinetic
modeling, bioengineering, analytical chemistry, and risk
assessment.”

Other TEX-VAL collaborators are: Dr. Weihsueh Chiu, Dr. Robert
Burghardt, Dr. Candice Brinkmeyer-Langford at the CVM; Dr. Clifford
Stephan at the Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and
Technology; Dr. Terry Wade with the Texas A&M Geosciences and
Environmental Research Group; Dr. Arum Han in the Texas A&M
College of Engineering, and Dr. Michael Mancini at the Baylor
College of Medicine.

Learn more about the grant from NCATS’
press release. To view the original article, please visit the
Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
News Page.